Drug checkpoints in Genesee have me gasping

As I get older, I get crankier. And as I get wiser, I’ve learned that less government is best. So why the heck every time I turn around, there is some bureaucratic body out there messing with my life?

I’m ticked that there are so many layers of government- federal, state, county and local. Why do we need four different groups of lawmakers telling us how to live our lives? Couldn’t we get along with three, or even two?

I’m ticked that there are so many divisions of law enforcement. Again, there’s state cops, county cops, city cops, tribal cops, and on and on. Do we really need that many cops to make sure we are abiding by the laws the different divisions of government force upon us.

Which brings me to the latest. One of those law enforcement divisions, the County cops in Genesee, where Flint is the major metropolis, has decided to set up drug checkpoints on the major freeways in Genesee County. That’s right, cops in that area are now pulling over cars, asking driver and passengers to get out, so a drug sniffing dog can search the car.

To me this is unbelievable. When I first read this I gasped. Are we in communist Russia? How can they get away with this?

I don’t do drugs, and never have, but I do travel through Genesee County every weekend on my way to the Detroit area. To think that I could be stopped at a checkpoint for a lengthy amount of time while my car is searched, drives me bonkers. I now plan to avoid Genesee County at all costs. I just can’t afford to lose time waiting.

Then I also think isn’t Flint, and therefore Genesee County, one of the most crime-ridden areas in the United States? And isn’t it true, Flint and therefore Genesee County, because of budget cutbacks, has had to lay-off dozens, if not hundreds of cops?

Why are we re-assigning cops that could be fighting violent crimes like murder and rape, to our safe freeways to stop motorists in hopes of finding a bag of weed?

What’s even more interesting is that the Michigan Supreme Court in 1990 ruled that so-called “sobriety check lanes”, that were put in place to nab drunk drivers, were illegal. That same year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled narcotic checkpoints illegal as well.

So why twenty years later are they now legal? Nothing has changed in the court system. According to the local prosecutor David Leyton, he is powerless. The sheriff did not consult him, but he has no control over what the sheriff wants to do. He says the only way they can be stopped is if an arrested citizen takes the County to court.

And hopefully sues them for millions. Government, again, has overstepped their bounds. It happens time and again, at every level. Bureaucrats, whether their law enforcement or in some other branch, think they can do whatever they want. In this case the local sheriff has done what he wants without consideration of the law.

He ought to be tossed from office. I’m tired of my tax money going to idiots like this, who could care less about providing for common citizens and I.